“Recorded in his own home on a 1920s Martin guitar using a Nagra tape recorder, the song evokes Jimmie Rodgers or the earliest Dylan. Ostensibly little more than a minimalist instrumental sketch, the song nevertheless carries its own narrative weight, proceeding with the reflective, slightly mournful tone of a humble life lived by routine.” So we wrote of Cameron Knowler‘s ‘Placer Camp Blues (Nagra Demo)’ back in May, a track which built upon previous album CRK with real lo-fi charm. Continuing this series of demos, Knowler has now shared ‘El Centro’, another song recorded to Tascam which swaps his familiar acoustic sound for an electric guitar, painting a sparse yet evocative picture of Californian desert life in all its rugged, sun-bleached and almost esoteric personality.

‘El Centro (Cassette Demo) is out now via Castle Dome Records and available from Bandcamp.

JP Harris – Say Darling Say

JP Harris might have been embedded within country music for a decade and a half, releasing records and touring across the states and beyond, but he still feels he sits a slight angle compared to the rest of the scene. An outsider artist in the classic sense, pursuing his own singular, idiosyncratic sound which draws upon everything from old school blue collar musicians to punk rock attitude and the daring of the avant garde. New album Shaving a Dead Man, forthcoming this autumn via Bloodshot Records, collects a series of traditional songs shone through this prism, resting on the classic cornerstones of banjo and fiddle yet emerging sounding fresh and new. Listen to opener and lead single ‘Say Darling Say’ now:

Shaving A Dead Man will be released on the 23rd October via Bloodshot Records and you can pre-order it now.

Kate Prascher – Thousand A Million

“Embodies both the atmosphere and emotional clarity of the release,” we wrote of ‘Jubilee’, the lead single from Kate Prascher‘s upcoming full-length Sunday Afternoon, back in June. “The sound with one foot in the past but always looking forward, allowing memories and hopes for the future to sit side by side.” This collision of the vintage and contemporary is typical of the Memphis-born, Hudson Valley-based songwriter’s work, Prascher finding fertile ground in the ambiguous space between things, be it mystery and clarity or the old and the new. Something again evident on new track ‘Thousand A Million’. A richly warm number rooted in the landscape of the present, the song nevertheless casts an eye back towards those who lived and worked in that very same space back through the generations. “I wrote it with my ancestors in mind and with a feeling of wide, open plains,” as Prascher explains to Glide Magazine.

Sunday Afternoon will be released on the 28th August via First City Artists.

Leilani Patao – what

If you’ve been following the work of Hawaiian-American musician and songwriter Leilani Patao in recent months, you’ll know their music can pack an emotional punch, though often chooses to eschew the usual bombast or melodrama for something more joyful. Released in anticipation of a new deluxe edition of their EP daisy, recent single ‘kiddy scissors‘ typified the style with its celebration of queer love, and though latest track ‘what’ concerns very different subject matter, that sense of heart and control again shines through. “I wrote this song a few years ago when I felt my most frozen,” Patao explains of a track about the helplessness so many of us feel in the face of the contemporary political moment. “I felt really powerless and I felt terrified of what could happen if I started putting these stances into my songs.” But, in true Patao fashion, courage eventually wins out, not least because it becomes clear selfish concern can no longer be enough. “I can’t just protect what I’ve got anymore because it’s being taken away from me anyways. I can’t lay low; I can’t be quiet.”

lonalih – Have You Heard

Selected Short Stories, the new EP from Hamburg folk artist lonalih on new basement, is a release which lives up to its name. Built upon a bed of guitar, piano and strings, and resting on Lina Lohmann’s light yet emotive vocal style, each of the five tracks present their own narrative snapshot of a specific moment. The pieces favour texture and sensation over explicit detail, yet transport the listener all the same. “The songs remind of clear early morning light or an after-hour private choir practice,” as the label puts it. “Words inspired by human bond, girlhood and the motif of true name.” The result is five vignettes painted in the same soft tones as the album’s artwork. Airy, evocative and bright.

Melissa Weikart – Crash

Existing beween the poles of experimental improvisation and crowd-pleasing pop, the work of French-American songwriter Melissa Weikart has long known how to enchant an audience. A sound that welcomes the listener in with an expert sense of control, yet nevertheless constantly surprises, finding a line between craft and spontaneity which proves a fitting vehicle for exploring emotions in all their strange peculiarities and universal pull. Latest single ‘Crash’ is the ideal starting point for the uninitiated, what Weikart herself has described on social media as “a love song to friends near and far, the people with whom we traverse the mundane, the extraordinary, and all the messiness in between.” Lush, immersive and slightly warped at the edges, a world to step inside which always seems ready to shift beneath your feet. Watch the video directed by Pierre Petit, with the help of Filip Rzedzicki, below:

‘Crash’ is out now and available from the usual places.

Scout Gillett – Gonna Change

Scout Gillett was born in Missouri, cut her teeth in Brooklyn and now finds herself in LA, a fact which seems to inform her second full-length Tough Touch. Released back in March via Slouch Records, the album presents a sense of unfolding momentum, pitching the listener into the ongoing journey of its creator and the heady of mix of experiences which result, making for a sound that’s not afraid to show uncertainy or fragility but always holds an assured confidence too. As though in keeping in motion, Gillett intentionally confronts difficulty and thus enables a sense of constant growth. The fittingly titled single ‘Gonna Change’ is a good place to start, possessing both the vulnerability and soulful swagger that is present across the record, as well as a hard won wisdom that quits fighting against the current of change and instead goes with the flow.

Its always gonna change
Nothing stays the same

Tough Touch is out now via Slouch Records and available from Bandcamp.

Sweetbreads – Ben

Following on from January single ‘Punisher of Love’, which we described as “an exploration of [the] contemporary rat race, delving into the weight of expectations and self-sabotage which results,” Melody Stolpp’s Sweetbreads is back with a brand new track ‘Ben’. Displaying both the storytelling and sincerity which has become a staple of the project, the song is decidedly bittersweet, yearning for the titular character with equal parts bright fondness and melancholic longing. “It’s my one and only unrequited love song,” as Stolpp explains. “Looking back, it feels like a sweet little time capsule for a very rough year. Now I see it as a tribute to my younger self and to all the naive hearts who find themselves in complicated situationships.”

Ben / Satisfy is out now and available from the usual places.

wAHb – Still

wAHb is the self-described “Post Americana” project of Laramie, Wyoming-based songwriter and musician Caleb Bristol and various collaborators. Originally intended as a vehicle for an exploratory, noise-based style of music which drew on sounds from everyday life, wAHb has gradually evolved towards a more considered brand of folk, though the spirit of the earlier era remains in the atmospheric layering of samples fleshing out the arrangements. As latest album Whiteman shows, the result might be born in the country western tradition, but is quick to separate itself from its forebears, losing all the nostalgia and kitsch romance of the genre in favour of something altogether more raw. Take opener ‘Still’, playing as if it has been dug up from someplace deep out on the Wyoming plateau, or else picked up on a lonely radio, its wavelength unknown. A transmission of which Molina himself would be proud, restrained in tone yet weighed by the ache of a lifetime of small heartbreaks.

Whitmer Thomas – Candy Corn

If you’ve spent some time in front of a screen large or small in recent years, chances are you’ve come across Whitmer Thomas, be it in hit films such as Weapons and Friendship, shows like Big Mouth or his own HBO comedy special. But aside from being an actor and comedian, Thomas is also a musician. He has put out a couple of joyously tongue-in-cheek releases which possesses his comic spirit while preserving a sense of earnestness, never descending into parody. Nowhere is this clearer than on ‘Candy Corn’, Thomas’s brand new single and first with the good folks at Fire Talk. A playful but sincere depiction of youth in all its chaos and vulnerability, wrapped in the latent wistfulness present within any act of retrospection. The song comes complete with a suitably zany video, including guest appearances from Joe Pera and Cameron Christopher:

‘Candy Corn’ is out now via Fire Talk and available from Bandcamp.

Winter – hollow (mixtape version)

We last wrote about Brazil-born, New York-based songwriter Samira Winter, AKA Winter, last summer with the release of full-length Adult Romantix via Winspear. “A record concerned with all the pain and potential within a major move in life,” as we described, “evolving the shoegaze/dream pop styles introduced on 2022 debut Some Kind Of Blue with everything from Elliott Smith-esque acoustic emotion to the concision and texture of Rather Ripped-era Sonic Youth.” With a new project on the horizon, Winter has returned with ‘hollow (mixtape version)’, a reimagining of the closing track from Adult Romantix which hints at the future direction of the outfit. Because while the original offered a cloudy, ethereal four minutes, enveloping the listener in its hazy shimmer, the mixtape version is charged with an entirely different energy. A song succinct and bound by forward motion, clocking in at almost half the length of its twin sister yet no less atmospheric for it.

Watch the video directed by Sophie Hur below:

‘hollow (mixtape version)’ is out now via Winspear and available from Bandcamp.

The post Weekly Listening: July 2026 #1 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Back in 2023 we wrote about Somethinghood by A Box of Stars, an album which saw “the Burlington outfit weave what is best described as a sense of complete attention,” as we put it, “a focus which elevates what might seem ordinary situations into something almost sublime.” Now Macaulay Lerman and co. are back with Walnut Street, a brand new record which doubles down on the style to capture both the beauty of life’s smallest details and the implicit sadness which stems from the knowledge that everything will one day fade away. Single ‘Remain’ is the ideal place to jump in, a typically lo-fi and authentic track which carries a flame of love despite the looming threat of loss around.

Alden Hellmuth – Microfictions

“Tether is a fitting name for the release,” we wrote of Alden Hellmuth‘s new album on LEITER back in May, “speaking to both the connection between Hellmuth and her supporting cast—bassists Logan Kane and Miller Wrenn and drummer Justin Brown (Thundercat, Aja Monet)—and how group, and indeed the audience, act something like a leash within the spontaneity of improvisation. The musicians might play themselves out into unexpected territory, but there’s always a line to bring them back into the heart of the group.” After single ‘Face the Wall’ kicked things off, Hellmuth has now shared latest track ‘Microfictions’. The opening number on the album, ‘Microfictions’ wastes no time in pitching the audience into the depths of her adventurous approach, drawing on Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music to create a style of improvisation centring on melody. Scurrying percussion adds a sense of urgency, while Hellmuth’s trademark sax skates over the surface with virtuosic personality.

Tether will be released on the 26th June via LEITER and you can pre-order it now.

Cheekface – I Don’t Work Here

LA trio Cheekface have made a name in recent years with mischievous brand of indie rock. Their music combines post punk angles and playful pop bounce with a droll talk-singing style of vocal delivery to create something sometimes caustic, often irreverent and always dialled into the ridiculous age we call the present. For anyone left uninitiated, latest single ‘I Don’t Work Here’ bundles up the Cheekface aesthetic into a tidy three minutes, railing against everything from the surveillance state to the steady creep of the corporate into civic life with equal parts swagger and seethe. A world where everyone is watched yet perpetually lonely, and unrealistic demands come from bosses and customers alike.

Dog Shaped – Please Hold

In part rising from the ashes of former band Sue Your Landlord, Dog Shaped is songwriter Emily Cabarle alongside Nicholas Djukic Cocks (lead guitar), Michael McCanna (lap steel), Matt Shuham (drums), Angelo Ross (keys, backing vocals) and Freddy Haug (bass). With an EP slated for release next month, Cabarle and co. have shared single ‘Please Hold’ to introduce their sound. A song described by the band as “a power ballad about wanting to be close and connect with friends/lovers but being scared of what happens when you’re vulnerable,” it confronts the needling doubt of fearing you are too much for those around you while pining for acceptance and connection. Watch the video produced and directed by Mars Alba below:

‘Please Hold’ is out now via streaming services.

Jacob Brodovsky – Kids

Back in April we introduced Tell The Kids We Tried, the forthcoming full-length from Winnipeg songwriter Jacob Brodovsky, describing how the album “meditate[s] on themes of community, connection and family within the tumult that is the present moment,” with a set of characters “attempting to build a life within a world where the future seems unwilling or unable to materialise.” Latest single ‘Kids’ addresses this style more directly than anything on the record, written while Brodovsky was wrestling with what it meant to have a young child and another on the way while the future of civilisation seems so bleak. “For me, having children has been a massive source of both optimism and dread,” he explains. “Being around children and watching them discover themselves is such an incredible gift to behold, while also terrifying to realize all the ways they could hurt themselves and the limits of my own abilities to protect them.”

Tell The Kids We Tried will be released on the 10th July via Make My Day Records and you can pre-order it from Bandcamp.

Kate Prascher – Jubilee

Later this summer, Memphis-born, Hudson Valley-based songwriter Kate Prascher will release new full-length Sunday Afternoon. The follow-up to 2024’s Shake the Dust, the record sees Prascher build upon her distinctively honest, unguarded style of folk. Lead single ‘Jubilee’ embodies both the atmosphere and emotional clarity of the release, the sound with one foot in the past but always looking forward, allowing memories and hopes for the future to sit side by side. “I wrote it while walking on an old train trestle in Rosendale, New York, a town ringing with the eerie history of a stone quarry, carrying memories of my hometown across it,” Prascher explains. “By the time I climbed down from the track, the song was mostly written. It’s a lyrical exploration of the word ‘jubilee’ as both a signal of celebration and of forgiveness.”

Sunday Afternoon will be released on the 28th August via First City Artists.

MEGGO – just my luck

Following on from 2025 EP eavesdropper ;; death stories, Montreal-based songwriter MEGGO is returning this summer with the next chapter of a trilogy of releases, with lead single ‘jaws of life‘ giving a taste of what to expect earlier in the year. Now she is back with new track ‘just my luck’, a song which allows repressed anger to bubble the surface, not only as a form of simple catharsis but also to clear the ground in order for the process of healing to begin. “There’s a part of me that needs to yell and scream. I don’t call on her that often, but she’s in there!” MEGGO explains. “‘just my luck’ is what comes from that inevitable explosion. It’s about letting go of grudges and making room inside yourself for forgiveness. It acknowledges where there is pain, looks right at it, and lays it bare so that it no longer needs to be carried. What’s left is compassion and peace in its wake.”

Two Runner – Strawberry Rhinestone

Described by label Gar Hole Records as “a warm reassurance for anyone who’s gotten dressed up just to come home alone,” ‘Strawberry Rhinestone’ is the lead single from Two Runner’s upcoming new album Porchlight. The Northern Californian duo, songwriter Paige Anderson and fiddler Emilie Rose, have lived a life steeped in folk music, growing up in the mountains and playing from a young age, and the experience shines through in the Two Runner sound. The single is a slice of lively barroom bluegrass, equal parts wistful and reassuring as it delivers a message both wise and world weary. “”Love is in your favor if you can outlast the bad ones.”

Some lovers are like the mountains
Some lovers are like the ocean
Some of them stick like velcro
And some leave in mysterious ways

‘Strawberry Rhinestone’ is out now via streaming services.

W. Y. Huang – Born To Lose

We last wrote about Singapore-born, New York-based singer-songwriter W. Y. Huang back in 2024 with the release of the EP Knots. The release possessed “a fluidity and ease suggestive of an artist who has spent time exploring their tastes and honing their craft,” we wrote. “One ready to share something intimate.” Fast forward a couple of years and W. Y Huang is preparing to release his debut full-length On Stranger Hills, and lead single ‘Born To Lose’ suggests the album will be even more honest and personal. With a lo-fi sound which owes a debut to both Daniel Johnston and Adrienne Lenker and drawing on his own immigrant experience, Huang “explores the loneliness and anxiety of what it means to be invisible in a foreign land,” as the album notes explain, “tracing the edges of belonging, where memory and place begin to blur.”

‘Born to Lose’ is out now and available from the usual places.

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